The bank account can be defined as a table or an accounting document of the credits and debts between a banker and his client (art of the code of commerce)Therefore, it is an accounting document which tracks the operations performed by the client in its relationship with a credit institution. This is not to say that all banking transactions are governed by a single common account. Practice bank knows the different accounts of the natures of disparate subject to specific rules: current account deposit account or some special accounts encompassing savings accounts, multiple accounts and accounts with multiple holders. The number of bank accounts increased considerably in the past several years as a result of the effects of economic and trade, but also by the action of the legislator who, for reasons monetary and fiscal, to stimulate, or even imposed the use of banking instruments. Many payments must transites through a bank account The opening of a bank account has become a necessity for any natural or legal person.
If opening and using a bank account have become acts, unmarked, some operations may have consequences that it is better to know (power of attorney, joint account) The account opening raises several questions related in particular to the freedom of contract (§), to the formalities to be observed before the opening of the account (§) and the obligations of the bank with respect to the opening (§) The opening of a bank account poses a first question about the possibility for a bank to refuse to open an account to an applicant.
This question raises other related questions: - What degree of autonomy of the will and the freedom for a bank to enter into a contract. The bank fulfils a public service prevent to refuse any account opening to a client. The account agreement is a contract intuitu personae Is there a right to an account as a corollary of the obligation made in some areas by the legislature or by the practice of opening a bank account. All of these questions can be reduced to two issues: The freedom of contract (A) and the right to an account (B) The exercise by the bank of a public service mission do not prevent it from refuse to open an account an applicant (consumer) without exposing themselves to the penalty of refusal to contract under article of the royal decree on the protection of the consumer and by sections forty-nine and of the law n° - on freedom of prices and competition, or any other sanction. The freedom for the bank to refuse to contract has been recognized, implicitly, by the legislature, no doubt because of the character of intuitu personae of the relationship between the bank and its customer.
The possibility for the bank to refuse to open a account involves other freedoms, such as the possibility of making, in the framework of a commercial policy exclusion of small accounts, opening the account with a prior payment of a certain sum of money.
The right for a bank to refuse to contract needs to be combined with the right of a natural person or legal entity to open a bank account. Taking into consideration this law, article of the banking law provides for that"Any person who does not have a current account and was refused by one or more banks, the opening of such an account after you have requested by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, may request the Bank Al-Maghreb to designate a credit institution to which it will be able to open such an account. Where it considers that the refusal is not well founded, the Bank Al-Maghreb refers to the credit institution with which the account will be opened. The latter may limit the services related to the opening of the account at the cashier operations".
The bank and designated by Bank Al-Maghreb may not refuse to open the account in question, under penalty of incur disciplinary liability, but may limit the operation of the account to cash transactions, namely the receipt and transfer of funds.
The banking law contains no provision as regards the possibility for the bank to close the account after its opening, or to make this fence has the agreement or at least the prior information of the Bank Al-Maghreb We may say that this closing is possible by observing a period of notice of sixty days as provided by section of the code of commerce. It is up to the client to initiate another process with the Bank Al-Maghreb for designation of a bank with which he can open his account. Prior to the opening of an account, the bank is required to observe certain formalities, relating in particular to the verification of the identity and address of the applicant (A), its capacity and powers (B). Prior to the opening of an account, the bank is required to collect the identification details of its customers and their addresses. The bank is obliged to verify the identity of any physical person or legal entity that requests the opening of an account. Several legislative and regulatory texts devoted to this provision and list the documents to be requested by the bank to this effect. It is to be understood that a bank must reject any document that is manifestly untrue, without for all that being held liable if the product is in appearance, the r-regular. The banker is required to verify not only the existence of an address, but the accuracy of this address. To this end, a welcome letter is sent to the client upon opening the account. In case of an incorrect address, the credit institution must ensure it by any means the exact address. Failing that, he can decline the entry into relationship, and to proceed, if applicable, at the closing of the account, and this under penalty of engaging his liability.
